4 ms·

I thought China was part of the WTO and has most favored nation trade status with the US. Does the US have such high import taxes on Chinese goods? I don't thin

I thought China was part of the WTO and has most favored nation trade status with the US. Does the US have such high import taxes on Chinese goods? I don't think so. Googling around I found this[1] 2014 article about unfair taxes on US cars and a win for the US in the WTO court, but maybe China just ignores that ruling. It does not seem reasonable for the US to allow China to impose taxes and force tech transfer from the US, especially since the US has such a high trade deficit with China. There was some talk about this problem during the US election, but I have not seen any action on the issue yet. [1] http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-wto-autos-china-20140524-story.html http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-wto-autos-china-201405...

sandworm101 9y ago
Cars are a special thing in US trade deals. Free trade or not, the US auto industry gets special protections. This is also true of other countries (Canada, Europe etc) but is most true of the US.
fspeech 9y ago
The ruling was about anti-dumping taxes that China imposed as a retaliation for US imposing anti-dumping tax on Chinese tires. Anti-dumping tax is in addition to regular tariffs. Since China lost the case I assume these anti-dumping taxes were abolished.
makomk 9y ago
As I understand it, most favoured nation status just means that China has to charge the same tariffs on imports from the US that they charge when importing equivalent items from other countries which they don't have trade deals with. (Which probably rules out most kinds of tit-for-tat tariff policies.)
ksk 9y ago
I think your comment needs a historical perspective. Protectionism and tariffs played an important economic part in the rise of all of the current world superpowers. Pretty much everyone from the USA, to GB to Sweden practiced heavy protectionism through tariffs and subsidies (which also featured in the civil war). While you can pick any window in history and adjudicate whats "fair", the alternative to "Chinese are sneaky" is that they're simply doing what others did before them to become dominant.
- njarboe 9y ago
  If you read my comment I am not talking about "fairness" or advancing some crypto Chinese racism. China is doing great and advancing quickly. Good for them. My perspective was from the other side and questioning weather or not the policy from the US side is a net good for the people in the US, aside from the top 0.01%.
  - ksk 9y ago
    I'm not suggesting you personally harbor ill towards them in a racial way. I could have worded it better, sorry ! My comment was political. A lot of commentators here seem to not understand the historical perspective on tariffs, and subsidies and protectionism. I think people understand the 'every country will look out for themselves' part. What a lot of people don't is the 'this is what we used to do too' part.

sandworm101 9y ago

Cars are a special thing in US trade deals. Free trade or not, the US auto industry gets special protections. This is also true of other countries (Canada, Europe etc) but is most true of the US.

fspeech 9y ago

The ruling was about anti-dumping taxes that China imposed as a retaliation for US imposing anti-dumping tax on Chinese tires. Anti-dumping tax is in addition to regular tariffs. Since China lost the case I assume these anti-dumping taxes were abolished.

makomk 9y ago

As I understand it, most favoured nation status just means that China has to charge the same tariffs on imports from the US that they charge when importing equivalent items from other countries which they don't have trade deals with. (Which probably rules out most kinds of tit-for-tat tariff policies.)

ksk 9y ago

I think your comment needs a historical perspective. Protectionism and tariffs played an important economic part in the rise of all of the current world superpowers. Pretty much everyone from the USA, to GB to Sweden practiced heavy protectionism through tariffs and subsidies (which also featured in the civil war). While you can pick any window in history and adjudicate whats "fair", the alternative to "Chinese are sneaky" is that they're simply doing what others did before them to become dominant.

njarboe 9y ago
If you read my comment I am not talking about "fairness" or advancing some crypto Chinese racism. China is doing great and advancing quickly. Good for them. My perspective was from the other side and questioning weather or not the policy from the US side is a net good for the people in the US, aside from the top 0.01%.
- ksk 9y ago
  I'm not suggesting you personally harbor ill towards them in a racial way. I could have worded it better, sorry ! My comment was political. A lot of commentators here seem to not understand the historical perspective on tariffs, and subsidies and protectionism. I think people understand the 'every country will look out for themselves' part. What a lot of people don't is the 'this is what we used to do too' part.